By the time you are reading this, a week will have passed since the monster tornadoes targeted many of our communities.

I want to tell the victims that you are not alone; Kentucky stands with you.
The Red Cross has been overwhelmed with Kentuckians’ generosity, so much so, that they are now asking for cash donations instead of material items.

The day began at 5:30 a.m. My wife was awake in our king-sized bed. Her tossing woke me up, too.
She was concerned about the weather reports she was reading.

“This doesn’t look good,” she said.
My wife sometimes thinks the sky is falling when she reads weather reports.
She says an extra prayer for snow days, asks incessantly if I think there will be snow and checks every weather blog she can find.
I’m used to her having a strong reaction to the forecasts.

Another week goes by in a whirl of legislative meetings, visits from hometown folks and organized groups, such as 4-H and the 874K Coalition.

Even though the House has yet to act on the budget proposal, senators continue to educate ourselves and monitor the budget meetings in the House.
In addition, senators continue to meet in small groups to review the different budget needs of the various agencies.
We expect to receive the House proposal next week.
Let’s dig in on the legislative happenings.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wondering where my money has gone. I can’t find it anywhere. It balances out though, because neither can my creditors.

Is it just me or have prices on just about everything started to take a great big leap up? Yes sir, things are definitely going to the bad place in a hand basket.
Did you know I’m an accountant by trade? Yep, I’d trade that occupation for just about anything else, but that’s a different story. We’re talking money here.

My father’s family grew up on Long Run out in Texas, just a few miles from Springfield on the old Perryville Road.

“Mr. Henry” Best, the head teacher at the Texas school house, lived between the Cocanoughers and Johnnie Key, who still worked his team of mules when I was a kid in the early sixties.
The Best family had old ties with the Denny Goode clan, and Denny’s raccoon hunting tradition fascinated this young man, transplanted to the Kenton County suburbs.

“Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved”---Maroon 5, “She Will Be Loved”

Lowering her eyes, the young lady, still a teenager, turned away, trying to conceal the evidence: But it was unmistakably there.
The marks on her face were painful reminders; she had indeed become another girl with a broken smile.

During the last three or four months we continue to hear about how things are getting better.

The focus has been on the need for more government spending.
Politicians are forever quoting moral values, theological concepts, as if they are the only ones who understand the true meaning.
Unfortunately, we are being led down a path from which there may be no return.
From this view point, we, as citizens, are not getting the truth and we are forgetting about the real problem we are facing.

After a pause for President’s Day, the legislature moved into the second half of the 2012 General Assembly Session.

I had visits from groups representing adult day health care providers and developmental disabilities.
Many Boy Scout troops came to Frankfort for the annual Boy Scout Day at the Capitol.
It was a pleasure to see these civic-minded boys and young men and their dedicated troop leaders and parents.
Of the bills we focused on this week, two were of particularly high-profile.